What potential projects are there in the infrastructure sector where investment institutions are clustered?
Author: Web3 Insights
According to Rootdata, there were a total of 1,178 financing events in 2023, with a financing scale reaching $2.839 billion.
In terms of financing scale, the infrastructure track ranks first:
Top investment institutions like a16z, Binance Labs, and Paradigm also focus heavily on the infrastructure track:
As shown in the above chart, although different investment institutions have varying preferences for tracks, the infrastructure track undoubtedly occupies a significant proportion of their investment landscape; besides the infrastructure track, a16z emphasizes the gaming sector; Polychain, Coinbase Ventures, and Binance Labs focus on the DeFi track, while Paradigm has fewer investments but maintains a relatively even distribution across other sectors.
This article will review potential projects in the infrastructure track:
B² Network
B² Network is an EVM-compatible Rollup based on Bitcoin's zero-knowledge proof verification commitment. Rollup data and zk proof verification commitments are recorded on the Bitcoin network, ultimately confirmed through a challenge-response mechanism.
B² Network participated in the roadshow for Bitcoin ecosystem projects held by ABCDE in 2023 and ultimately secured investment. The core members of the B² Network technical team are active members of mainstream open-source communities like Ethereum and Bitcoin.
This week, they will upgrade from the Alpha testnet to the Haven Beta testnet. Their Odyssey mission is also underway; visit the official website and click on Odyssey to participate.
Mind Network
Mind Network is a zero-trust layer aimed at bringing the next billion users and trillions of dollars to Web3. Mind Network provides security and data privacy solutions to achieve true CrossFi scale, comply with regulatory requirements, and adhere to Web3 principles of asset tokenization and personal data ownership. Previously, the project was selected for Binance Labs' fifth incubation program and the Chainlink BUILD program.
On June 29, 2023, Mind Network announced the completion of a $2.5 million seed round financing, with participation from Binance Labs, Comma3 Ventures, SevenX Ventures, HashKey Capital, and others.
Omni Network
Omni is an interoperability layer for Ethereum, serving as core infrastructure to support all modular applications on Ethereum. When building applications, developers will no longer be forced to build within the confines of a single Rollup or execution environment—they will be able to seamlessly build applications that exist throughout the Ethereum ecosystem while accessing all users and all capital. Omni was previously a DeFi protocol called Rift Finance that provided financial services for Web3 projects.
Omni has raised a total of $18 million in funding, with investors including Coinbase Ventures, Jump Capital, Pantera Capital, and others.
In June 2023, the testnet went live, and currently, there is no official news regarding an airdrop plan, so it’s advisable to keep an eye on updates.
Wormhole
Wormhole is a decentralized universal messaging protocol that enables developers and users of cross-chain applications to leverage the advantages of multiple ecosystems.
Wormhole completed a $225 million financing round at a valuation of $2.5 billion, with investors including Coinbase Ventures, Folium Ventures, Multicoin Capital, and others, making it the largest financing round in 2023.
CESS
CESS is dedicated to building a blockchain-based distributed cloud storage system that effectively manages distributed resources using virtualization technology, providing customers with consistent and efficient distributed storage services. The CESS global content delivery network allows users to easily access their data anytime and anywhere.
In December 2023, CESS completed an $8 million financing round, with investors including DWF Labs, Infinity Ventures Crypto, and others.
The CESS team won the championship at the Web3 hackathon organized by the Web3 Foundation in 2021; they have also completed all three milestones funded by W3F and will receive funding from the Web3 Foundation. According to the official roadmap, there is a token issuance plan for 2024. Currently, CESS has activities on the task platform TaskOn, where you can participate in the testnet phase.